EP0002131B1

EP0002131B1 - Improved self-cleaning type extruder

Info

Publication number: EP0002131B1
Application number: EP78300632A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Mamoru Sagakami
Original assignee: Sekisui Chemical Co Ltd
Current assignee: Sekisui Chemical Co Ltd
Priority date: 1977-11-19
Filing date: 1978-11-15
Publication date: 1982-06-23
Also published as: EP0002131B2; IT1101116B; AU520866B2; CA1124973A; DE2861917D1; US4300839A; AU4171278A; JPS5472265A; EP0002131A1; JPS5829733B2; MX150779A; WO1979000305A1; IT7829902A0; SU1190979A3

Description

This invention relates to a novel and improved multi-screw extruder, and more specifically, to a self-cleaning type extruder having multiple screws rotating in the same direction which has been improved so as to achieve uniform and intensive kneading of plastics.
A self-cleaning type kneading extruder is known in which the surfaces of multiple intermeshing screws are cleaned by contact with each other or with screw flights. Extruders of this type have the function of removing the fluctuations in output, or the rate of stock extrusion, which are caused by blocking of powders in a solid-conveying zone and/or plasticating zone, and of preventing the degradation of the extrudate caused by the sticking or flowing out of the degeneration products in a melt-conveying zone, and have recently attained importance for use in plastica- tion, melting and kneading of polymeric materials and their compositions.
Generally, a "self-cleaning type" extruder has a specified configuration defined by the contour of screws in their cross section at right angles to their axes. It includes at least two screws adapted to rotate in the same direction each of which has one or multiple screw flights, and which are in such a relation that at any position in at least a part of the screws which lies in the longitudinal direction of the extruder, the contour of one screw in a cylinder cross-section taken at right angles to the screw axes is in substantial contact at one point with the contour in the same cross-section of another screw intermeshing therewith.
Fig. 1 (A) of the attached drawings is a top plan view of the screw section of a typical known self-cleaning type twin-screw extruder (for instance of the type disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 4040607) in which each screw S₁ or S₂ has three flights F,, F₂ and F₃. The cross-section of these screws S, and S₂ at a certain point in the longitudinal direction, for example, the cross-section taken along the line I-I of Fig. 1 (A), is as shown in Fig. 1 (B). It is appreciated from this drawing that the contour of the cross-section of screw S, is in contact with that of screw S₂ at one point only.
The tops T,, T₂ and T₃ of screw flights F,, F₂ and F₃ of each screw S₁ or S₂ in the known self-cleaning type extruders make substantial contact with the inner wall surface of cylinder C, and each screw channel A₁, A₂,.... A₁₂ or B,, B₂, ... B9 forms a space substantially completely isolated from the neighboring channels. Accordingly, the stock fed into channel A₁ of screw S₂ moves necessarily to channel B₁ of screw S, with the rotation of the screws. Then, it moves to channel A_e of screw S₂, further passes channel B₆ of screw S,, and channel A₁₁ of screw S₂. The stock fed into channel A₂ of screw S₂ is likewise conveyed through the course A₂→B₂→A₇→B₇→A₁₂.
This, in the conventional self-cleaning type extruder, the flowing path of the stock is completely dependent on the screw channel into which the stock has initially been fed. As described above, the stock which has flowed into the channel A, of screw S₂ follows an "8" figure-patterned helical path A₁→B₁→A₆→B₆→A₁₁. Hence, the resin which has flowed into channel A₁, either partly or wholly, never gets together with the stock within the channels A₂, A3, A4, A₅, B₂, B₃, B₄, and B₅. In other words, no exchange of stock is performed between channels of one screw and between channels of two intermeshing screws.
Since no exchange of the stock takes place between channels in the axial direction of screws in the known self-cleaning type kneading extruder, it has the defect of having insufficient ability to knead and/or disperse the resin fed into it.
In an attempt to remedy this defect, it was suggested in the past to provide the extruder with kneading discs which are triangular and force side-to-side transfer while kneading and shearing the resin besides the feeding screws (see Society of Plastics Engineers Journal, September 1962, pages 1147―1154). However, in this suggested extruder, exchange of the resin between channels is performed only through a limited length at a fixed position in the axial direction of the screws. Consequently, the resin undergoes an abrupt physical action within a short period of time, and frequently this produces undesirable results. These discs of the suggested extruder do not have a power of conveying the stock forward, and therefore, the overall conveying power is reduced.
It would be worthwhile here to consider the shearing action of the screw flights in the above conventional self-cleaning type extruder. Generally, the magnitude of the shearing force of a screw independent from the properties of the stock and the operating conditions is given by the product of the average shear rate (velocity gradient) and the time. Since the time depends upon the various dimensions of the screws in the axial direction, the shear rate at the wall surface will be a representative parameter of the shearing action which is associated with the shape of the extruder in its cross-section at right angles to its axis.
The shear rate (r_ω) at the wall surface is generally proportional to R/H [r_ω∝R/H]. R represents the outside diameter of each screw, and H represents the depth of a screw channel. Let the distance between the axial cores of two intermeshing screws be L, then the following equation will be given because H=R-L.
As is clearly seen from equation (1), the shear rate at the wall surface increases when the distance L between the axial cores of the screws approaches the outside diameter (R) of the screw flight and thus the depth (H) of the screw channel decreases. On the other hand, with decreasing depth (H) of the screw channel, the volume of the intermeshing part of the screws decreases, and consequently, the time. during which the stock undergoes a shearing action decreases. This leads to the reduction of the resin kneading action and the drastic decreases of the output.
The screw flights of the multiple screws of the aforesaid known self-cleaning type extruder have the same outside diameter (R). Let R and L be constant, then the depth H(=R-L) of a channel is determined unequivocally, and therefore, the wall-surface shear rate is also determined unequivocally. This means that in order to obtain a high shear at a given rotating speed of screws in the known self-cleaning type extruder, it is necessary to decrease the outside diameter R of the screw flight as compared with the distance L between the axial cores of two intermeshing screws, namely to decrease the depth of the screw channel. If this is done, however, the resin kneading action of the screws will be reduced, and the rate of extrusion of the resin will be drastically decreased, as stated hereinabove. In other words, the conventional self-cleaning type extruders have the serious defect that in order to attain a high shear rate at the wall surface, the kneading action, the resin conveying efficiency, and the rate of extrusion or output must be sacrificed.
Another type of known extruder, is a biaxial extruder described in DE-A-1 802593, and employs a double flight arrangement on each screw with one flight being joined to the other at one side thereof. One of the flights has less radial height than the other. However, this is not a self-cleaning extruder, there being a gap between the screws, and the purpose of the extruder is best obtained when the screws rotate in opposite directions.
Another self-cleaning extruder is known from US-A-3900187. Here there are two screws rotating in the same direction, and intended to be substantially in contact with each other and their surrounding cylinder. However, there is only one flight on each screw and the kneading and working of stock is at rather a low level. Moreover, the structures described present difficulties in maintaining a close, and thus self-cleaning engagement between the two screws, and between the screws and the cylinder, throughout the length of the extruder.
It is an object of this invention to provide a self-cleaning type extruder in which the aforesaid defects are reduced.
According to the present invention there is provided a self-cleaning type extruder including a cylinder and at least two screws to rotate therein in the same rotational direction, the screws being such that at any cross-section along the length of the extruder perpendicular to the screw axes, intermeshing screws are substantially in contact with one another at one point and each screw having at least two flights, characterised in that the top of one flight is substantially in contact with the inner wall of the cylinder and the top of another flight is at a predetermined clearance from the inner wall.
The extruder of the invention produces a good resin kneading action at the intermeshing parts of the screws and gives a high output (rate of extrusion) while maintaining a high shearing action. It can give uniform and intensive kneading of plastics while retaining the advantages of self-cleaning type extruders, by performing a mutual kneading action based on the exchange of resin between adjacent screw channels in the axial direction of the screws and between screw channels of two intermeshing screws, and attaining a high shearing action between the wall surface of the cylinder and the bottom surface of the screw channels.
The extruder of the invention will now be described in greater detail by referring to some embodiments shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 (A) is a top plan, partly in section, of the screw section of a typical known self-cleaning type extruder;
Figure 1 (B) is a cross-sectional view taken along the line I-I of Figure 1 (A);
Figure 2(A) is a top plan, partly in section, of the screw section of one embodiment of the extruder of the invention;
Figure 2(B) is a cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II of Figure 2(A);
Figure 3 is a top plan, partly in section, of the screw section of another embodiment of the extruder of this invention;
Figure 4 is a top plan, partly in section, of the screw section of still another embodiment of the extruder of this invention; and
Figures 5(A) and (B) are views showing the contours of screws in a cylinder cross-section taken at right angles to the screw axes in an extruder of this invention including two flights per screw.

The screws used in the extruder of the invention have at least two screw flights. In theory, any number of flights can be provided, but in practice, the invention prefers screws each having two to four flights.
The multiple screws incorporated in the extruder of this invention usually have the same outside diameter. But they may have different outside diameters from each other. The extruder of this invention has at least two, usually two, such screws.
Figure 2(A) shows an embodiment of the self-cleaning type extruder of the invention which has two screws 1 and 1' of the same outside diameter each having two screw flights. The screws 1 and 1' respectively have flights 3 and 3' whose tops 4 and 4' are in substantial contact with the Inner wall surface of a cylinder 2, and flights 5 and 5' whose tops 6 and 6' are spaced from the inner wall surface of the cylinder 2 by a predetermined tip clearance 8. As is clearly seen from Figure 2(B) which shows the cross-sections of the screws 1 and 1', the cross-sectional shapes of the screws 1 and 1' are in a mirror-image relationship to each other. In any rotational transition phase, the cross-sectional contour of the screw 1 is in substantial contact with that of the screw 1' only at one point. The cross-sectional shapes of the screws 1 and 1' are usually designed in such a manner that the contact point p (p') falls on a line connecting crests a and b of the cylinder 2.
In the present specification and the appended claims, the term "in substantial contact" means that two elements are slidably in frictional contact with each other, or the two elements face each other with such a small gap therebetween that a resin to be kneaded and extruded does not substantially pass through it.
Another but especially preferred embodiment of the Invention Is shown In Figure 3. The extruder in this embodiment includes two screws of the same outside diameter as shown in Figures 2(A) and (B) each of which has two flights. The difference is that while two screw flights exist independently from each other in each screw in the embodiment shown in Figures 2(A) and (B), the Intrinsically two screw flights on each screw in the embodiment of Figure 3 get together and apparently form one Irregularly-shaped screw flight. As is clearly appreciated from Figure 3, the extruder in this embodiment includes two screws 10 and 10' each of which has two screw flights 12 and 13 or 12' and 13' respectively. It can be seen from Figure 3 that the two flights are combined to assume the structure of an integrated screw flight 16 having a top 14 in substantial contact with the Inner wall surface of a cylinder 11 and a plateau 15 spaced from the inner wall surface of the cylinder 11 by a predetermined tip clearance 8.
In the embodiment shown in Figure 3, in a cross-section of the screws taken at right angles to the screw axes in the longitudinal direction of the extruder, the contour of screw 10 is in substantial contact with that of screw 10' only at one point, and the tip clearance in Figure 3 corresponds to the one obtained by adjusting the tip clearance 8 of the screw flights 5 and 5' of screws 1 and 1' of the extruder shown in Figure 2 to a half (E=H/2=(R-L)/2] of the depth (H=R-L) of the screw channel. In other words, this screw flight Is of a special shape having the largest possible tip clearance 8.
Still another embodiment of this invention is shown in Figure 4. The extruder shown in Figure 4 includes two screws 20 and 20' each of which has three flights 22, 23 and 24, or 22', 23' and 24', respectively. Each of tops 27 and 27' of flights 24 and 24' has a tip clearance ó with respect to the inner wall surface of a cylinder 21, and the remaining tops 25 and 26, or 25' and 26' of the flights 22 and 23 or 22' and 23' are in substantial contact with the inner wall surface of the cylinder 21.
Whilst in Figure 4, only one of three flights has a tip clearance with respect to the inner wall surface of the cylinder, the invention is in no way bound to this specific embodiment. It is possible to design the screws such that the tops of the two flights out of three have tip clearances with respect to the inner wall surface of the cylinder. The tip clearances of the two flights may be the same or different.
The tip clearance 8 in the present invention is not strictly limited, and can be varied widely according to the use of the extruder, etc. Advantageously, it is within the following ranges with regard to the outside diameter (R) of a screw and the depth H(=R-L) of a screw channel defined by the interaxial distance L of the intermeshing screws.
preferably
In the present specification, the "outside diameter" of a screw denotes the product obtained by doubling the maximum vertical distance from the top of the screw flight to the central axis of the screw.
As stated hereinabove, the extruder of the invention is essentially characteristic in the configuration of screws incorporated in it. The screws used in this invention should have such a structure that at any position in at least a part of the screws which lies in the longitudinal direction of the extruder, the contour of one screw in a cylinder cross-section taken at right angles to the screw axes is in substantial contact at one point with the contour in the same cross-section of another screw intermeshing therewith. Each screw should have at least two screw flights, and the top of at least one of the flights is in substantial contact with the inner wall surface of a cylinder of the extruder, while the top of at least one other screw has a certain tip clearance with respect to the inner wall surface of the cylinder.
Any one skilled in the art is believed to be able to design screws which meet the above requirements on the basis of the disclosure of the present specification. The way of designing the cross-sectional structure of screws used in an extruder including two screws of the same outside diameter each of which has two flights in accordance with the embodiment shown in Figures 2(A) and (B) is described in greater detail below. It should be understood that screws in accordance with the other embodiments of the invention can be designed in quite the same way.
The contours of the cross-sections of two intermeshing screws are shown in Figures 5(A) and (B). It is appreciated from these drawings that the contour of a cross-section of a screw taken at right angles to its axis is made up of a combination of a group of arcs AB CD, EF and GH with the axial core as a center and a group of curves BE, FD, AG and HC determined by a technique of analytical geometry. Figure 5(A) shows the contour of one screw in its cross-section taken at right angles to its axis in a phase in which the top of one screw flight agrees with crest b of the cylinder. Figure 5(B) shows a similar view in which the top of one screw flight is in a somewhat deviated phase from the crest b of the cylinder.
The contour 31 of the inner surface of the cylinder is defined by the specific extruder of this invention. As a result, the distance L between the axial cores 0 and 0' of two screws 30 and 30' is determined. From the fact that the top of one screw flight is in substantial contact with the contour 31 of the cylinder, the outside diameter R of the screw can necessarily be determined.
If in Figure 5(A), the angle Lb0'd formed by (1) the straight line c―d forming an angle of 45° with the horizontal axis g-h passing the axial cores 0 and 0' and (2) the straight line b-0' connecting the crest b of the cylinder to the axial core 0' is a'2, then the arc AB can be expressed as an arc having a radius of R/2 with a central angle of a/2 on both sides of straight line 0'-c. This arc AB defines the contour of a flight top which makes substantial contact with the inner wall surface of the cylinder.
The arc EF is an arc having a radius of (L-R/2) with a central angle of a/2 on both sides of straight line e-f which passes the axial core 0' and crosses straight line c-d at right angles thereto. It defines the bottom surface of a screw channel at its deepest position.
When the tops of two flights are both in substantial contact with the inner wall surface of the cylinder as in a screw of the known type shown in Figures 1 (A) and (B), the entire contour of the cross-section of the screw taken at right angles to the screw axes is symmetrical with respect to straight line c-d, and can be expressed by the curve
The curves BE and FJ have been found to be expressed by the equation (i) to be given hereinbelow as a result of an analytical geometric study.
On the other hand, the contour of the top of a flight having a tip clearance 8 with respect to the inner wall surface of the cylinder is defined by arc CD. The arc CD can be expressed as an arc having a central angle <CO'd when a circle with a radius (R/2-8) is drawn about 0' as a center and the intersecting point between the circle and the curve FJ is designated D. The central angle LCO'D can be determined as follows. Let the point at which the circle having a radius (R/2-8) crosses the straight line a-b connecting the crests a and b of the cylinder beyond point D be k, then the central angle LCO'D can be determined by assuming that the angle LCO'd=angle LkO'd.
The arc GH is an arc having a radius of
The angle LGO'f equals angle LCO'd, and angle HO'f equals angle LDO'd.
The curves AG and HC are expressed by the following equation (i).
The contours of the screws in their cross-section taken at right angles to their axes can be determined in the manner described hereinabove, and this determines the structure of the screws used in this invention.
The equation (i) can be formulated in the following manner by referring to Figure 5(B) which shows the state of Figure 5(A) deviated in phase by an angle ϕ. In Figures 5(A) and (B), the cross-sectional contours of the two screws are the same, and the same parts are indicated by single-primed reference numerals.
A bisecting line c'―d' of the vertical angle A'OB' of a screw flight of screw 30 whose top is in substantial contact with the inner wall surface of the cylinder is drawn, and made a reference line. Let the distance from the axial core 0 to the contour of screw 30 in its cross-section taken perpendicularly of its axis be r^* at a point displaced from this reference line by an angle
, the following equation can be set up.

wherein

Rh=R/2-8,
O=the intermeshing angle formed by the straight line b-0 connecting the crest. b of the cylinder to the axial core 0 and the horizontal axis g-h,
_E=the horizontal angle formed by the straight line D-0 connecting the contact point of the two screws to the axial core 0 and the horizontal axis g-h,
a=the vertical angle of the flight formed by the straight lines A'-0 and B'-0 (or A-0' and B-0') connecting the axial core 0 (or 0') to the tops A' and B' (or A and B) of screw flights whose tops are in substantial contact with the inner wall surface of the cylinder,
ϕ=the angle LbOA' which is the angle of rotation of the apex A' of the screw flight from the crest b of the cylinder, and
wi=the angle resulting from subtracting α/2 from the angle formed by the straight line connecting the apex C' or D' (or C or D) of the screw flight having a tip clearance to the axial core 0 (or 0') and the reference line c'-d' (or c-d).

From the above equation, r^* at any given angle
can be determined. If r^* is plotted at varying in a system of rectangular coordinates with r^* on the axis of ordinates and on the axis of abscissas, curves BE, FD, A6, H of the contour of a screw in its cross-section taken at right angles to its axis can be drawn. The curves BE, FD, AG, and HC of the contour of the screw obtained in this way can be represented by the following equation (i).
wherein

R=the outside diameter of the screw,
m=th_e number of flights in the screw,
δ=the tip clearance of the screw flight,
f(R,8)=the function of R and 8 corresponding to (R/2-8), and
g(R,8)=the function of R and 8 corresponding to

Since the extruder of the invention described above is designed in such a shape that at least one of the multiple flights of a screw has a tip clearance with respect to the cylinder, it can achieve a unique kneading action in compounding plastics.
This unique kneading action is described by reference to Figures 2(A) and (B). The resin fed, for example, in the screw channel c₁ of screw 1' is moved past the low screw flight 5' through the tip clearance between it and the inner wall surface of the cylinder by the pushing action of the screw flight 3' in the left-side direction, and is associated with the resin present in the adjacent channel C₂. With the rotation of the screw, a flow of the resin shown by the arrow X, in Figure 2(A) forms by the friction of the resin with the inner surface of the cylinder.
The resin which flows upward in the direction of the arrow Y₁ along the channel C₁ separates at the point of intermeshing between the screws 1 and 1' into a flow that moves through a normal route in the direction of Z, along screw channel D₂ and a flow that moves to screw channel D₃ past the top 6' of the low screw flight 5' and thus advances in the direction shown by arrow Z₂.
The resin which has moved into the screw channel D₂ is kneaded with the resin present in the screw channel D₁ adjacent thereto via the low screw flight 5 by the interchannel flow in the direction shown by arrow X₂.
The resin which has moved to channel D₃ of the screw 1 from the screw channel C₁ of screw 1' is likewise kneaded with the resin present in the channel D₄ adjacent thereto via the low screw flight 5 by the interchannel flows shown by arrows X₃ and X₄.
Thus, unlike the known self-cleaning type extruders, the extruder of the present invention can achieve an intensive kneading of the resin by the exchanging of resin flows between channels of the same screw and between channels of two intermeshing screws.
In addition, the resin is circulated between adjacent channels through the tip clearance of the flight as shown, for example, by arrows X₁, X₂, X₃ and X₄. Accordingly, the resin undergoes a high shearing action because of the narrow tip clearance. When an unmelted resin or a high viscosity resin is present together in the channels, the tip clearance performs a filter action to make the melt viscosity of the resin highly uniform. In particular, in the extruder of the type shown in Figure 3, the amount of the resin which undergoes such a shearing action and the time during which it undergoes such a shearing action can both be maximized, and the screw channels have a configuration close to that in conventional single-screw machines. The screw channels of the type shown in Figure 3 give a channel configuration factor which permits a high efficiency of conveyance, and can give a very high total shear for a fixed rate of extrusion (output).
As described hereinabove, the extruder of the invention can effect uniform and intensive kneading and mixing of the resin.

Claims

1. A self-cleaning type extruder including a cylinder (2) and at least two screws (1, 1') to rotate therein in the same rotational direction, the screws (1, 1') being such that at any cross-section along the length of the extruder per- perpendicular to the screw axes, intermeshing screws are substantially in contact with one another at one point and each screw having at least two flights (4, 6, 4', 6'), characterised in that the top of one flight (4, 4') is substantially in contact with the inner wall of the cylinder (2) and the top of another flight (6, 6') is at a predetermined clearance (8) from the inner wall.

2. An extruder according to claim 1 characterised in that each of the screws (1, 1') has two to four flights.

3. A self-cleaning type extruder including a cylinder (11) and at least two screws (10, 10') to rotate therein in the same rotational direction, the screws (10, 10') being such that, at any cross-section along the length of the extruder perpendicular to the screw axes, intermeshing screws are substantially in contact with one another at one point, and each screw having at least two flights (12, 13, 12', 13'), characterised in that the top of one flight (12, 12') is substantially in contact with the inner wall of the cylinder (11) and the top of another flight (13, 13') is at a predetermined clearance (8) from the inner wall, and in that said other flight (13, 13 is joined to one side of said one flight (12, 12') to give a plateau (15) at said one side and spaced from said inner wall.

4. A self-cleaning type extruder including a cylinder (21) and at least two screws (20, 20') to rotate therein in the same rotational direction, the screws (20, 20') being such that, at any cross-section along the length of the extruder perpendicular to the screw axes, intermeshing screws are substantially in contact with one another at one point, and each screw having three spaced apart flights (22, 23, 24, 22', 23', 24'), characterised in that the top (27, 27') of one flight (24) only is at a predetermined distance (8) from the inner wall of the cylinder (21) and the tops (25, 26, 25', 26') of the other flights (22, 23, 22', 23') are substantially in contact with the inner wall.